''Capital City'' is a television series which focused on the professional and personal lives of a group of

investment banker Investment banking pertains to certain activities of a financial services company or a corporate division that consist in advisory-based financial transactions on behalf of individuals, corporations, and governments. Traditionally associated with ...

s working in the dealing room at Shane Longman, a fictional international

bank A bank is a financial institution that accepts deposits from the public and creates a demand deposit while simultaneously making loans. Lending activities can be directly performed by the bank or indirectly through capital markets. Because ...

based in the

City of London The City of London is a city, ceremonial county and local government district that contains the historic centre and constitutes, alongside Canary Wharf, the primary central business district (CBD) of London. It constituted most of London fr ...

. The 23-episode series was produced by

Euston Films Euston Films is a British film and television production company. It was originally a subsidiary company of Thames Television, and operated from 1971 to 1994, producing various series for Thames, which were screened nationally on the ITV network. ...

, a wholly owned subsidiary of

Thames Television Thames Television, commonly simplified to just Thames, was a Broadcast license, franchise holder for a region of the British ITV (TV network), ITV television network serving Greater London, London and surrounding areas from 30 July 1968 until th ...

, for the

ITV network ITV is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network. It was launched in 1955 as Independent Television to provide competition to BBC Television (established in 1936). ITV is the oldest commercial network in the UK. Since the passin ...

spent an estimated £500,000 to run newspaper and billboard advertisements to promote the series' launch which at the time was believed to be the largest advertising spend for a programme in the history of

ITV ITV or iTV may refer to: ITV *Independent Television (ITV), a British television network, consisting of: ** ITV (TV network), a free-to-air national commercial television network covering the United Kingdom, the Isle of Man, and the Channel Islan ...

. Full-page advertisements were taken in six national newspapers including ''

The Financial Times The ''Financial Times'' (''FT'') is a British daily newspaper printed in broadsheet and published digitally that focuses on business and economic current affairs. Based in London, England, the paper is owned by a Japanese holding company, Nikk ...

'', ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper ''The Sunday Times'' (fou ...

'' and ''

The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...

''. The ads promoted the Shane Longman "brand", rather than "Capital City", and featured images of cast members in character. Thames Television stated that the press and poster ads were considered necessary to raise the profile of the series amongst members of the public who had a specialised or more professional interest, however a number of City bankers described the series as "fairly inaccurate", "confusing for the ordinary viewer", and lacking solid research.Cochrane, Hugh. 'A great gamble as the full-page ads run on', in "

The Glasgow Herald ''The Herald'' is a Scottish broadsheet newspaper founded in 1783. ''The Herald'' is the longest running national newspaper in the world and is the eighth oldest daily paper in the world. The title was simplified from ''The Glasgow Herald'' in ...

Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...

: 4 October 1989 One television critic stated: "All of this would have been quite novel and exciting three years ago, but the world has turned, the market has crashed and we have all seen enough of other people's

Porsche Dr. Ing. h.c. F. Porsche AG, usually shortened to Porsche (; see #Pronunciation, below), is a German automobile manufacturer specializing in high-performance sports cars, SUVs and sedans, headquartered in Stuttgart, Baden-Württemberg, Germany ...

s to last a lifetime... City hustlers do not look very heroic any more, just extravagantly paid." Still, it could be argued that most of the characters in "Capital City" – perhaps with the exception of the reckless and predatory Jimmy Destry, power-hungry Lee Wolf and the duplicitous Sylvia Roux Teng – portray City bankers in a generally positive manner. The primary characters come across as likeable and – in contrast to the

Gordon Gekko Gordon Gekko is a composite character in the 1987 film '' Wall Street'' and its 2010 sequel '' Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps'', both directed by Oliver Stone. Gekko was portrayed by actor Michael Douglas, whose performance in the first fil ...

greed is good Greed (or avarice) is an uncontrolled longing for increase in the acquisition or use of material gain (be it food, money, land, or animate/inanimate possessions); or social value, such as status, or power. Greed has been identified as undes ...

" stereotype often associated with their industry – as possessing a moral and/or social conscience; in one episode, the entire dealing room threatens to go on strike in protest against handling a bond issue on behalf of a company which dumps toxic waste in poor African countries and demand that Shane Longman introduce policies which enable them to avoid dealing with clients who they regard as unethical.'Ethical Investments', Director: Clive Fleury; Writer: Tom Greenwood. "Capital City",

, 'episode 18, series 2. Original air date: 15 November 1990 ''Capital City'' is very much a product of the late 1980s, on the cusp of the digital revolution. The dealing room computers used what appeared to be a

DOS DOS is shorthand for the MS-DOS and IBM PC DOS family of operating systems. DOS may also refer to: Computing * Data over signalling (DoS), multiplexing data onto a signalling channel * Denial-of-service attack (DoS), an attack on a communicatio ...

operating system; mobile phones were the size of bricks; the primary methods of long-distance "instant" communication were still the land line telephone,

fax Fax (short for facsimile), sometimes called telecopying or telefax (the latter short for telefacsimile), is the telephonic transmission of scanned printed material (both text and images), normally to a telephone number connected to a printer o ...

and

telex The telex network is a station-to-station switched network of teleprinters similar to a Public switched telephone network, telephone network, using telegraph-grade connecting circuits for two-way text-based messages. Telex was a major method of ...

; and smoking – banned in England, within most public buildings, in 2007 – was still allowed in the workplace as well as inside restaurants, bars and other public places. At the same time, the series dealt with several mature storylines including alcoholism, depression, mental illness, sexual assault, drug use, homosexuality, physical assault, gambling addiction, prostitution, promiscuity, shoplifting, fraud, bribery, corruption and abortion.

Cast

The main cast (in alphabetical order as shown in the series credits) included: *William Armstrong as Max Lubin *

Emily Bolton Emily Bolton (born 1951) is a Dutch actress raised in England and the Netherlands. Career Bolton appeared in the James Bond film '' Moonraker'' in which she played 007's Brazilian contact Manuela. Originally she had wanted to become a concer ...

as Sylvia Roux Teng (from episode 13) * John Bowe as Leonard Ansen *

Denys Hawthorne Denys Vernon Hawthorne (9 August 1932 – 16 October 2009) was an actor from Northern Ireland who was known for his work in theatre, film, television and radio. Life Denys Hawthorne was born into an upper middle-class Protestant family in Portad ...

as James Farrell *

Dorian Healy Dorian Healy (born 11 February 1962) is a British actor, best known for his role as Capt/Maj Kieran Voce in the award-winning drama series ''Soldier Soldier'' (1993–1994). He conceived and co-wrote the TV series ''Masculine Mescaline'' with ...

as Jimmy Destry (to episode 13) *

Douglas Hodge Douglas Hodge is an English actor, director, and musician who has had an extensive career in theatre, as well as television and film where he has appeared in ''Robin Hood'' (2010), '' Legends of Oz: Dorothy's Return'' and '' Diana'' (2013), ''P ...

as Declan McConnachie *

Jason Isaacs Jason Isaacs (born 6 June 1963) is an English actor. Isaac's film roles include Col. Tavington in '' The Patriot'' (2000), Michael D. Steele in '' Black Hawk Down'' (2001), Lucius Malfoy in the ''Harry Potter'' film series (2002–2011), C ...

as Chas Ewell *

Joanna Kanska Joanna Kanska (born 1 April 1957) is a Polish-British actress who has worked in films, television, theatre and radio. She migrated to the United Kingdom in 1984. Career Born in Nowy Sącz, she attended the National Film School in Łódź from ...

as Sirkka Nieminen *

Richard LeParmentier Richard LeParmentier (July 16, 1946 – April 15, 2013) was an American actor who lived and worked primarily in the United Kingdom, best known for his role as Admiral Motti in '' Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope'' (1977) and the acerbic police L ...

as Lee Wolf *

Trevyn McDowell South African born Trevyn McDowell is a former actress and a property developer, who has starred in films, television programmes, theatre and radio, predominantly in her adopted homeland of England. She appeared in the 1994 film '' Mary Shelle ...

as Michelle Hauptmann *Anna Nygh as Hannah Burgess *

Joanna Phillips-Lane Joanna Phillips-Lane is a British actress who among other parts, played the character Roxy in Carla Lane's sitcom ''Bread''. She also played the character Wendy Foley in ''Capital City A capital city or capital is the municipality holding ...

as Wendy Foley (to episode 14) *

Rolf Saxon Rolf Saxon is an American actor. He is well known for his voice over work in video games, movies and TV shows. Life and career Saxon was born at Fort Belvoir in Alexandria, Virginia. He has worked with American Conservatory Theatre, Cal Shakes, ...

as Hudson J. Talbot III *Saira Todd as Hilary Rollinger (from episode 15) *Briony Glassco as Gail Martin Recurring support and guest cast included Mark Burns as Peter Longman, grandson of the bank's founder, the eponymous Shane Longman, and 30 percent shareholder;

Louise Lombard Louise Lombard (born Louise Marie Perkins; 13 September 1970) is an English actress. She is known for her roles as Evangeline Eliott in the BBC drama series ''The House of Eliott'' (1991–94) and Sofia Curtis in the CBS drama series ''CSI: Cri ...

who appeared as Louise, a 17-year-old runaway who is befriended by Chas and is later assaulted by Jimmy;

Faith Brook Faith Brook (16 February 1922 – 11 March 2012) was an English actress who appeared on stage, in films and on television, generally in upper-class roles. She was the daughter of actor Clive Brook. Early years Although she was born in York ...

as Katherine Talbot, Hudson's mother;

Charlotte Cornwell Charlotte Cornwell (26 April 1949 – 16 January 2021) was an English actress, singer, and a celebrated teacher of acting on the faculty at the University of Southern California (2003-2012). She began her career as an actress in Richard Cottr ...

as Petra Allunson;

Julia Ormond Julia Karin Ormond (born 4 January 1965) is an English actress. She rose to prominence by appearing in ''The Baby of Mâcon'' (1993), '' Legends of the Fall'' (1994), ''First Knight'' (1995), ''Sabrina'' (1995), '' Smilla's Sense of Snow'' (199 ...

as Allison;

Ben Daniels Ben Daniels (born 10 June 1964) is a British actor. Initially a stage actor, Daniels was nominated for an Olivier Award for Best Supporting Actor for ''Never the Sinner'' (1991), the Evening Standard Award for Best Actor for ''900 Oneonta'' ( ...

as Colin de Selincourt; and Pia Henderson, as Yolande, with whom Sirkka has a brief relationship.

Characters

*Max Lubin (William Armstrong), the bank's unconventional and somewhat eccentric, pony tail-wearing Head of Swaps *Sylvia Roux Teng (

), replaces Wendy Foley as the bank's Chief Trader in episode 13;'Hard Drugs and Snails', Director:

Paul Seed Paul Seed (born 18 September 1947) is a British television director and former actor. Born in Bideford in Devon, Seed began his career as an actor and appeared in numerous television series including ''Z-Cars'', '' Softly Softly: Taskforce'', '' S ...

; Writer: Andrew Maclear. "Capital City",

, episode 13, series 2. Original air date: 19 December 1989 Sylvia's duplicitous nature is revealed when she mentions to City headhunter and personal friend, Petra Allunson, that the core members of the dealing room team – Declan McConnochie, Michelle Hauptmann, Sirkka Nieminen, Chas Ewell and their assistants – are unhappy and potentially "on the market"'Headhunting', Director: Diarmuid Lawrence; Writer: Andrew Maclear. "Capital City",

, episode 19, series 2. Original air date: 22 November 1990 *Leonard Ansen ( John Bowe), the Director of Banking Activities, who constantly clashes with the power-hungry Lee Wolf who regards the bank's dealers as reckless risk-takers; becomes romantically involved with Hannah Burgess after her marriage breaks down *James Farrell (

), the bank's Chief Executive Officer *Jimmy Destry (

), a maverick junior trader, nicknamed 'Squirt' by Declan McConnochie, who is sacked for

malpractice In the law of torts, malpractice, also known as professional negligence, is an "instance of negligence or incompetence on the part of a professional".Malpractice definition, Professionals who may become the subject of malpractice actions inc ...

in episode 13; Destry shares a flat with Chas Ewell but the two fall out after Destry molests Louise, a 17-year-old runaway who Chas befriends at a railway station, in episode 4'Max in Trouble', Director: Mike Vardy; Writer: Matthew Bardsley. "Capital City",

, episode 4, series 1. Original air date: 17 October 1989 *Declan McConnachie (

), a senior trader on the secondary desk; becomes romantically involved with Michelle Hauptmann, who he marries in the final episode'The Wedding', Director: Mike Vardy; Writer: Andrew Maclear. "Capital City",

, 'episode 23, series 2. Original air date: 20 December 1990 *Chas Ewell (

), a junior trader on the primary desk, who questions his role in the city during a personal crisis in series one *Sirkka Nieminen (

), a senior trader in the secondary desk; the character is originally from

Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of B ...

(though the actress is Polish) and experiences numerous personal crises during the series including a battle with alcoholism, an abortion and a lesbian affair;'Strange Fruits', Director: Clive Fleury; Writer: Andrew Maclear. "Capital City",

, 'episode 21, series 2. Original air date: 6 December 1990 she is a serial risk-taker and thrill-seeker who, during episode 11, represents herself as a high-class prostitute on at least two occasions;'Twelve Degrees Capricorn', Director: Sarah Hellings; Writer: Andrew Maclear. "Capital City",

, episode 11, series 1. Original air date: 5 December 1989 during the series it is revealed that Sirkka and Declan McConnochie were romantically involved at one stage in the past *Lee Wolf (

), the Director of Corporate Finance, who constantly clashes with Leonard Ansen over the role of the banks dealers, who Wolf regards as reckless risk-takers *Michelle Hauptmann (

), a 24-year-old senior trader on the primary desk; she is originally from

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

and becomes romantically involved with Declan McConnachie during series one; the two marry in the final episode at the end of series two *Hannah Burgess (Anna Nygh), responsible for overseeing the dealing room IT and computer systems; Australian-born; she becomes romantically involved with Leonard Ansen after she and her husband Ryan divorce *Wendy Foley (

), initially the Chief Trader, Wendy is promoted to become the new Head of

Derivatives The derivative of a function is the rate of change of the function's output relative to its input value. Derivative may also refer to: In mathematics and economics * Brzozowski derivative in the theory of formal languages * Formal derivative, an ...

in episode 13 and is replaced on the dealing room floor by Sylvia Roux Teng; she resigns from the bank in episode 14 to work with major shareholder Peter Longman'Toxic Waste Syndrome', Director: Mike Vardy; Writer: Andrew Maclear. "Capital City",

, episode 14, series 2. Original air date: 18 October 1990 *Hudson J. Talbot III (

), a US-born attorney and the bank's capital markets originator whose mentally unwell wife Alex leaves him and their infant son in episode 1'Second Quarter Figures', Director:

; Writer: Andrew Maclear. "Capital City",

, episode 1, series 1. Original air date: 26 September 1989 *Hilary Rollinger (Saira Todd), a 22-year-old graduate who excelled in economics and philosophy; joins Shane Longman in episode 15 to assist Michelle Hauptmann on the primary desk;'Swami's in Town', Director: Clive Fleury; Writer: Andrew Maclear. "Capital City",

, episode 15, series 2. Original air date: 25 October 1990 during the office party celebrating the impending nuptials of Michelle and Declan, a very tipsy Hilary manages to tell Declan what a sweet and sexy guy he is, much to everyone's amusement as they look on from the table

Episode detail

Series 1 (1989)

Series 2 (1990)

Production credits

*Creator: Andrew Maclear *Writers: Andrew Maclear, Matthew Bardsley, Charles Jennings, Tom Greenwood, Richard O'Keefe *Directors: Mike Vardy, Sarah Hellings,

, Robert Walker, Clive Fleury, Diarmuid Lawrence *Associate Producer: Ron Purdie *Executive Producers: Andrew Brown, John Hambley *Producer: Irving Teitelbaum *Music:

Colin Towns Colin William Towns (born 13 May 1948 in West Ham, London) is an English composer and keyboardist. He was noted for playing in bands formed by ex-Deep Purple singer Ian Gillan, and later worked extensively in composing soundtracks for film, telev ...

Series trivia

*The series was created by Andrew Maclear, who also wrote the 1989 movie Dealers; the film's dealing room set, which reportedly cost £1,000,000 to construct, was retained for use in "Capital City". The dealing room equipment was provided by

Reuters Limited Reuters ( ) is a news agency owned by Thomson Reuters Corporation. It employs around 2,500 journalists and 600 photojournalists in about 200 locations worldwide. Reuters is one of the largest news agencies in the world. The agency was establ ...

. *Exterior scenes were shot throughout

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

and landmarks such as

Big Ben Big Ben is the nickname for the Great Bell of the Great Clock of Westminster, at the north end of the Palace of Westminster in London, England, and the name is frequently extended to refer also to the clock and the clock tower. The officia ...

, the

Palace of Westminster The Palace of Westminster serves as the meeting place for both the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, House of Commons and the House of Lords, the two houses of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Informally known as the Houses of Parli ...

Tower Bridge Tower Bridge is a Listed building#Grade I, Grade I listed combined Bascule bridge, bascule and Suspended-deck suspension bridge, suspension bridge in London, built between 1886 and 1894, designed by Horace Jones (architect), Horace Jones and e ...

River Thames The River Thames ( ), known alternatively in parts as the The Isis, River Isis, is a river that flows through southern England including London. At , it is the longest river entirely in England and the Longest rivers of the United Kingdom, se ...

and

St Paul's Cathedral St Paul's Cathedral is an Anglican cathedral in London and is the seat of the Bishop of London. The cathedral serves as the mother church of the Diocese of London. It is on Ludgate Hill at the highest point of the City of London and is a Grad ...

appeared as backdrops. Coincidentally, stylised forms of these icons were also featured in the on-air idents for

' parent company,

, that were shown at the end of each episode. *It is estimated that

spent more than US$10 million to produce the first 13 episodes (series one)Stead, Deborah. 'To start with...; On the Telly, a tale of swaps', in "

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

", New York: 3 December 1989 *The music for the series was composed by

and enjoyed some success in its own right. *The bank's address is shown in an Attachment of Earnings Order (Judgment Debt) served on Lee Wolf as 8 Gracewell Street,

EC2; Wolf's address is shown in the same document as 56 Chalfont Court, 238

Baker Street Baker Street is a street in the Marylebone district of the City of Westminster in London. It is named after builder William Baker, who laid out the street in the 18th century. The street is most famous for its connection to the fictional detec ...

NW1.'A Wolf in Wolf's Clothing', Director: Diarmuid Lawrence; Writer: Andrew Maclear. "Capital City",

, episode 22, series 2. Original air date: 13 December 1990 Neither address actually exists. *Shane Longman's headquarters are located near the

Bank of England The Bank of England is the central bank of the United Kingdom and the model on which most modern central banks have been based. Established in 1694 to act as the English Government's banker, and still one of the bankers for the Government of ...

; in one episode Michelle Hauptmann loses her driver's licence for one year after being caught speeding in her

and is shown exiting the

London Underground The London Underground (also known simply as the Underground or by its nickname the Tube) is a rapid transit system serving Greater London and some parts of the adjacent ceremonial counties of England, counties of Buckinghamshire, Essex and He ...

Bank station Bank and Monument are interlinked London Underground and Docklands Light Railway, Docklands Light Railway (DLR) stations that form a public transport complex spanning the length of King William Street, London, King William Street in the City of ...

after catching the Tube to work. *In the final episode, Michelle and Declan are married and, in the closing scenes, are shown travelling by water taxi to the airport en route to their honeymoon in

Venice Venice ( ; it, Venezia ; vec, Venesia or ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and linked by over 400 ...

; their marriage is taken to have occurred 1 September 1990 as this is the date shown on their travel documents.

Series quotes

*Sylvia Roux Teng to Hilary Rollinger: "Your job involves more than being a smile and dial girl." *James Farrell to (the newly married) Declan and Michelle McConnochie: "In 30 years of banking, this is the happiest merger I've ever seen", to which Declan replies: "James, this isn't a merger. This is a takeover."

Broadcast information

''Capital City'' was originally broadcast on Thames Television between 26 September 1989 and 20 December 1990; many other

regions also carried the programme, though participation and broadcast dates have varied. Despite its short run in the UK, the series was rebroadcast on

UKTV Gold Gold is a British pay television channel from the UKTV network that was launched in late 1992 as UK Gold before it was rebranded UKTV Gold in 2004. In 2008, it was split into current flagship channel Gold and miscellaneous channel, W, with clas ...

. The series was also transmitted in

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

ABC Television ABC Television most commonly refers to: *ABC Television Network of the American Broadcasting Company, United States, or *ABC Television (Australian TV network), a division of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, Australia ABC Television or ABC ...

, in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

on selected public television stations, and in

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

CBC Television CBC Television (also known as CBC TV) is a Canadian English-language broadcast television network owned by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, the national public broadcaster. The network began operations on September 6, 1952. Its French-l ...

, as well as on networks in

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

and

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populous ...

Availability

The complete series of 23 episodes have been released on DVD.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Capital City (Tv Series) ITV television dramas Television shows set in London 1989 British television series debuts 1990 British television series endings 1980s British drama television series 1990s British drama television series Television shows produced by Thames Television Television series by Fremantle (company) English-language television shows Television series by Euston Films